Divine One, you know us and call us by name.
You search for us, drawing us to your breast when we are strangers and aliens.
We are each and all your beloved.
You name us friend. You name us family.
We wonder and marvel to have as our Lover the Creator and Master of all that exists.
Our Beloved is Love itself.
You know us so well, and love us all the more.
Every longing, every breath, the number of hairs on our head.
We run into your embrace, overwhelmed by your intimacy and grace.
Sermon Series – Jacob, Punk to Patriarch Jacob’s journey to faith and accepting his place in God’s plan is full of schemes, betrayal, and family dysfunction. Yet, in the midst of the mess, God remains steadfast- offering relationship, provision, purpose, and new life. In Jacob’s story, we see our own mess and God’s saving grace for us as well.
Something is going on in Jacob’s life. He’s learning to love and sacrifice for another person. He’s gaining an honest work ethic. When he’s deceived by Laban he takes the high road, maybe for the first time in his life. He could have killed Laban, he could have rejected Leah, he could have run home taking Rachel with him. Instead, Jacob stays husband to Leah (who’s been cruelly used by Laban) and works another seven years for Rachel. Could Jacob be connecting his pain to the pain he caused his brother and father? Could he be learning empathy as well as love? Could it be, when Jacob awoke from his dream, God also awakened him from the selfish, manipulative nightmare of his early years? – Lisa Degrenia <><
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I’m excited to now offer mp3’s of my Sunday messages. A huge thank you to Leon and my brothers and sisters at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota for all their help in making this possible. If you’re ever in Sarasota, please drop by for worship Sundays at 9am or 10:30am, or drop by during the week for a chat or small group. You and those you love are always welcome.
Sermon Series: What’s Love Got To Do With It? What’s love got to do with it? Everything! It’s the who, what, when, where, how and why of our words and actions as follower of Jesus Christ.
Cornerstone Scripture for the Series: 1 John 4:15-17
God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.
It’s easy to do good from a distance, but that’s not what we do. Yes we give, but we also welcome, we take care, we visit. We love with skin in the game because that’s what God does for us in Jesus Christ. In this loving, we experience a full circle moment. We accept the gift of God’s love, we share that love, in that sharing we are loving God. – Lisa Degrenia <><
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I’m excited to now offer mp3’s of my Sunday messages. A huge thank you to Leon and my brothers and sisters at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota for all their help in making this possible. If you’re ever in Sarasota, please drop by for worship Sundays at 9am or 10:30am, or drop by during the week for a chat or small group. You and those you love are always welcome.
Sermon Series: What’s Love Got To Do With It? What’s love got to do with it? Everything! It’s the who, what, when, where, how and why of our words and actions as follower of Jesus Christ.
Cornerstone Scripture for the Series: 1 John 4:15-17
God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.
Love = Agape
Sacrificial, Unconditional, Makes the first move
Love is a choice tied to an action
Not so much an emotion but a motivation
Click Here to see the video of a child hitting then hugging a pinata mentioned in the sermon.
Love is a Verb- Patient and Kind Love is patient – enduring, persevering, long suffering (verse 4)
Patience is not irritable or resentful (verse 5)
Patience bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (verses 7-8)
Love is kind– caring, generous, thoughtful, compassionate (verse 4)
Kindness is not envious, boastful, arrogant, or rude (verses 4-5)
Kindness does not insist on its own way (verse 5)
Kindness does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth (verse 6)
Harper describing her picture of the monster
“So, like, this is a monster and he is mad because everyone is being mean to him.
But then I come to him and tell him, ‘You don’t have to be mad, just be nice to them’ and then I hold his hand and then he was happy. I’d like to take him home to be happy so he’s not alone.”
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I’m excited to now offer mp3’s of my Sunday messages. A huge thank you to Leon and my brothers and sisters at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota for all their help in making this possible. If you’re ever in Sarasota, please drop by for worship Sundays at 9am or 10:30am, or drop by during the week for a chat or small group. You and those you love are always welcome.
Sermon Series: What’s Love Got To Do With It? What’s love got to do with it? Everything! It’s the who, what, when, where, how and why of our words and actions as follower of Jesus Christ.
Cornerstone Scripture for the Series: 1 John 4:15-17
God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.
What is your motivation?
What drives your words, your actions, your choices?
Incentive- Reward
Fear- Punishment
Achievement- Recognition, Positive Feedback
Growth- Self-satisfaction
Power- Control
Social- Belonging, Acceptance, Duty, desire to contribute to the common good, desire to make a difference
Love = Agape
Sacrificial, Unconditional, Makes the first move
Love is a choice tied to an action
Not so much an emotion but a motivation
Your motivation is of critical importance. If there’s no love it’s not of God- God is love. Agape Love is the primary motivation for our actions, or the actions don’t matter. Without Agape Love I say nothing, I am nothing, I gain nothing. With Agape Love I say something, I am someone, I gain everything.
Six Gifts of Serving found in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
Speak (tongues of mortals, vs 1)
Speak = Prayer (tongues of angels, vs 1)
Speak = Prophesy (prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, vs 2)
Faith (vs 2)
Sacrifice = Generosity (give away all my possessions, vs 3)
Sacrifice = Volunteering (hand over my body, vs 3)
Worship Resources for this Message Affirmation of Faith- God is Love by Steve Garnaas Holmes
We believe in God, who is Love,
whose love is manifest in all Creation, in our lives, and in all people.
We follow Christ, who embodied God’s love
in his life and ministry, his death and resurrection.
In granting us his Spirit, Christ filled us with that love as well.
We live by the Spirit, the presence of God’s love in us.
In that love we participate in the Church, the Body of Christ
In that love we love God by loving our neighbors
through our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness.
Love is our faith, and it is a gift from God.
We thank God, and ask God’s blessings,
that we may love in the name of Christ
and the power of the Spirit, today and everyday, to God’s glory. Amen.
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I’m excited to now offer mp3’s of my Sunday messages. A huge thank you to Leon and my brothers and sisters at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota for all their help in making this possible. If you’re ever in Sarasota, please drop by for worship Sundays at 9am or 10:30am, or drop by during the week for a chat or small group. You and those you love are always welcome.
Romans 3:23 (Yellow)
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 6:23 (Black)
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 5:8 (Red)
God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (Blue)
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
Romans 10:9-10 (Green)
If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
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I’m excited to now offer mp3’s of my Sunday messages. A huge thank you to Leon and my brothers and sisters at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota for all their help in making this possible. If you’re ever in Sarasota, please drop by for worship Sundays at 9am or 10:30am, or drop by during the week for a chat or small group. You and those you love are always welcome.
Holy Trinity, Community of Love,
